Courses
Artificial Intelligence in Games
Understand the differences between traditional AI and AI applied to game development, where other factors such as playability are more relevant that the oponent’s intelligence level. Be familiar with the practical problems when developing AI for video games, and with the several techniques applied in comercial video games. Know how to design and build an AI system for a video game independently of its genre (action, sport, strategy, narrative).
Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems
To acquire general notions about agents and multi-agent systems; knowing how to identify and classify agents and environments, according to different properties. Knowing how to develop complex systems and systems from different application areas, using an agent-oriented methodology. Knowing how to define a society of agents in order to solve a specific problem. Being able to design agents with reactive, deliberative and hybrid architectures. Being able to create societies of agents that communicate, in a practical way, using suitable languages and platforms.
Computer Graphics for Games
This course covers both theory and practice of game engine software development. It delves into the different engine subsystems including, but not limited to, rendering, character animation, and physics, and details the articulation required to support gameplay development. By the end of this course, students should understand how modern game engines work, and be able to design and develop their own game engines.
Game Design
This course grants the students the opportunity to develop their skills on experience design and prototyping for games. The learning process is sustained in the discussion of what is a game, what are its components and what is its relation to the players (having in mind their differences). It is expected that the student develop design documents and prototypes to support his/her work on the course.
Game Development Methodology
Present a vision of the different methodologies and technologies involved in the development of digital games discussing the main features and issues in each one. Grant students with conceptual tools and techniques to develop user interfaces for games with special emphasis on player controls. Develop the ability to reflect and test the player experience and gameplay. Discuss the role of conceptual modelling and user testing. Highlight the importance to take a user centred approach in the exploration of the player experience.
Multimedia Content Production
Know the different types of multimédia information and how to manipulate them to poduce multimedia content. To understand the technological constraints that affect Production. To understand critical factors affect the success of a production, namely in aspects such as capture, encoding, processing and visualization of the different media. To know the different kinds of available authoring tools. To create Multimedia contents; To identify the different contexts in which multimedia can be consumed, with emphasys on online and network issues (evaluate bandwidth, latency, synchronization, etc.) and mobile devices. Introduce some advanged multimedia usages such as procedural modelling, generative art augmented reality. Apply efficient methods of multimedia content retrieval.
Thesis
Agents who build their identity
The aim of this work is to provide a new approach on the study of identity applied to agents, taking in consideration the strengths, reviewing some weaknesses of other novel approaches, and congregating the existing models into a robust model, with the intent of using it in (but not limited to) virtual simulations of social interactions, for example, serious games. We will develop a model for identity, based upon several aspects that constitute identity described in related investigations. The idea is to integrate this model, called IDeA Model, into an architecture of a society of agents, enabling the agents to handle and comprehend identity, providing context for the behaviour of each agent. It is our belief that games which feature social interactions such as conversations, like role-playing games or simulation games, would benefit from our model to increase the idiosyncrasy of characters. Our research focuses on the dynamism of identity through the evaluation of social contexts and how an agent can use identity processes as a tool for behaviour filtering. The agent’s active identity is dependent on the agent’s resources and goals, its known social categories and the context features in which it finds itself in. It is our intention for this model to be used in serious games of Project RAGE and, as such, the agent’s believability in its behaviour is also part of the focus of this research.
Ecofarm - a Persuasive Game
There has been a growing interest in Serious Games, more specifically on how they blend seriousness with entertainment and an interest on how certain video games use persuasion techniques to change players’ awareness or to promote discussion on some serious issues. The objective of this dissertation is to develop a video game with the purpose of raising players’ awareness for the conciliation of agriculture with biodiversity in the region of Castro Verde and motivate the players to know more about the business and economics of agriculture. To achieve this, we investigated the characteristics and design strategies of Serious Games and we investigated how techniques and strategies of persuasion can be implemented in video games in order to create entertaining persuasive gameplay. Further, we investigated some video games that implemented such techniques and analysed how they were achieved. We came up with an approach on how to translate real-world context into persuasive gameplay elements so players were drawn to the agricultural and environmental issues of Castro Verde. We conducted tests to assess the effectiveness of the persuasive gameplay. The final evaluation results were consistent with our objective, which states that implementing persuasion techniques and strategies in our game persuades players to be aware of the issues of Castro Verde.